Two researchers in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine have been awarded grants by Research to Prevent Blindness, the leading voluntary organization supporting research into the causes, treatment and prevention of diseases that threaten vision.

Vinit Mahajan, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, will receive a four-year, $250,000 Career Development Award to identify genes that are involved in inflammatory eye disease. Understanding the genetic basis of inflammation in the eye could lead to improved treatment approaches.

Markus Kuehn, Ph.D., assistant professor, will receive the Sybil B. Harrington Special Scholar Award, a one-year grant in the amount of $55,000. Kuehn is investigating the relationship between a cellular stress response and elevated pressure inside the eye, which is associated with glaucoma and other blinding eye diseases.

For more information on Research to Prevent Blindness, go to http://www.rpbusa.org.